“My first thought was this is going to be a disaster,” Father Stephen Rapposelli, pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Turnersville, recalls feeling when he was first informed that the COVID-19 pandemic was forcing the closure of church and the suspension of all public Masses.
“But after some thought, I began to realize that this could actually be a good thing,” he continued. “We all know that adversity and disillusionment can make us or break us. We needed to find ways of allowing COVID to make us, because we certainly weren’t going to allow it to break us.”
With those words, the parish leadership began to address the important issues: How do we stay in contact with our parishioners? How do we keep them informed? How do we address their needs in this new environment?
“We knew we needed to be creative and find new ways to address their spiritual and material needs” said Father Rapposelli. “We knew that we could not let anything stand in the way of continuing to help our parishioners to grow in faith and knowledge of the Living God.”
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the parish staff launched the use of Zoom as one method to hold information meetings and spirituality talks. A Constant Contact email newsletter was developed and blasted each week to share homilies, reflections and parish news, and to provide information updates.
The team quickly learned to better utilize Facebook. Live stream technology was implemented with the assistance of Deacon Frank Campisi, a recent addition to the parish team. The first televised event was Stations of the Cross, and from there it quickly grew to live streaming of weekly and daily Mass.
Parishioners began to request other spiritual content, and from those requests arose several programs offered via Zoom or live stream. The weekly “Encountering Christ” series offers teachings and reflections to help build a relationship with Jesus. Other limited series were developed including the four-part “Living the Joy of the Gospel,” the five-part “Book of Psalms” and the four-part “Understanding Mary Through the Scriptures.” All the recorded content was then archived on the parish website for on-demand viewing.
To ensure that the personal needs of parishioners were being met, the parish administrator, Anne Marie Gavin, organized a telephone outreach campaign. Volunteers made hundreds of phone calls to parishioners, asking a few simple questions like: How are you doing? Is there anything we can help with? Would you like to add someone to our prayer list?
Father Rapposelli was one of the volunteers making calls. “As a new pastor, this activity, along with our parish photo directory, gave me the opportunity to place a face with a name as we spoke,” he said. “Plus, as people began attending Zoom meetings and other online presentations, it gave me the opportunity to know people who I may have never gotten the opportunity to know.”
When the time came to reopen the church under social distance guidelines, it was determined that the parish would need approximately 10 volunteers at each Mass to greet and seat returning parishioners, as well as to sanitize the church after each Mass. Within hours of the Constant Contact blast, more than 50 parishioners responded with their desire to be trained to help.
So much has been done, but it just scratches the surface of possibilities. The pandemic has caused hardship to many, with loss of jobs and income.
“We need to meet the needs of those affected” says Father Rapposelli. “We can help them to prepare resumes, practice their interview skills and find employment opportunities.”
As restrictions begin to ease, other concerns will also need to be addressed. Will the faithful return, and how will the church reengage young people?
Father Rapposelli said, “We need to find creative ways of inviting everyone back to our church, and we need to provide opportunities for people to do service work.”
What’s notable is that the team at Saints Peter and Paul is confident that they can meet the challenges ahead. Father Rapposelli offers a simple approach to what others may see as a daunting task. “One of the most important things for us to remember is that all of the work doesn’t have to fall on us,” he said. “We need to open the door for God so that he can enter and do his work. We need to leave room for God to be God.”
At Saints Peter and Paul, we recognize that it has been a challenge, but with God’s help we are on our way to becoming an even stronger and more vibrant parish.
Deacon Anthony Cioe is assigned to Saints Peter and Paul Parish where he serves as pastoral associate for evangelical outreach. He is also chairman of the Bishop’s Deacon Council and vice-chair of the ManUp Spirituality Conference.
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